


The Quinzel Case

by BrytteMystere



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Gotham (TV)
Genre: Commedia Dell'Arte costumes, Gen, Harleen Frances Quinzel's backstory, Harley's sibilings die, I just wanted to give her a pre-Joker life, I'm terrible to my favourite characters, My First Work in This Fandom, Nasty experiments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-22
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-03-31 17:14:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3986278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrytteMystere/pseuds/BrytteMystere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Detective Gordon is getting tired of crazy doctors who experiment on their children... (A little Drabble in which we get to see Harleen Quinzel's early years... I may expand this later)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Quinzel Case

**Author's Note:**

> I need a beta. Seriously.  
> After watching the Joker Blogs, and reading Harley Quinn's solo comic (new 52), I knew I had to write something about her. Gotham hasn't introduced Harley Quinn yet, so I'll just let my imagination go wild.  
> To be clear, this is in the Gothamverse, even if I can't understand why they changed Pamela Isley's name...  
> Gotham: after the Scarecrow case, but before "The Blind Fortune Teller".

Everything started when Detective Gordon received a message about a mysterious house near the woods, where passing hikers had heard pain-fueled shouts.

He had just finished Dr. Crane's case, so he had learnt to be aware of isolated houses. However, it was somehow related to another crazy doctor doing illegal experiments, and James didn't want another Jonathan Crane in his conscience.

The psychiatrist was called Henry Quinzel, and apparently, he was obsessed with creating mental disorders. He had also shown an unhealthy interest in " _The Lord of the Flies_ " and the italian  _Commedia Dell'Arte._

Furthermore,the doctor had reasoned on his personal thesis that if one knows what causes them, some mental disorders could be _inflicted_ on an appropriate subject. More exactly, he wanted to make a “subject” _create_ an alternative personality.

To make the situation even  _worse:_  his test subjects were his _own children_.

 The Quinzel family had had a hard life. Originally from Brooklyn, they moved to Gotham after the mother, Frances, had committed suicide in front of her two eldest children: Harleen and Harriet.

Henry Quinzel thought that she had wanted to do so in front of the twins to better prepare them her husband's experiments.

The whole thing gave Gordon a headache.

By the time Bullock and Gordon got to the Quinzel family house, it was already too late for the two youngest children, who were lying dead in the hall, their heads cracked open like watermelons, both wearing what looked like medieval costumes which Nygma would later identify as being from _Scaram_ _uccia_ and _Mezzetino_ , two characters from the Italian _Commedia Dell'Arte_ _._

In the basement, they found the twins.

One of them, dressed as a _Pierrette_ , was lying on the floor, shouting whilst having some kind of epileptic attack, and the other, dressed like an _Arlecchino_ , was sitting on an electroshock chair, deathly quiet, her stare fixed on her sister, her body shacking from time to time.

 

It was a troubling case indeed. Henry Quinzel was missing, and his sick experiments had left Harleen, the _Arlecchino_ , as the only survivor, after her twin sister had died at the hospital. The girl's fate had remained uncertain, till Henry Quinzel's sister, a retired olympic gymnast called Hannah Quinzel, came and took the girl with her, being her designed tutor in case her parents were unable to take care of the girl.

Detective Gordon was reluctant, and when Commissioner Loeb gave Harleen's guardianship to Hannah, the whole situation started to unnerve him.

He would have investigated more, but new cases started to pop all around, and after the Ogre kidnapped Barbara, the whole Quinzel case was archived.

 

Years later, when a mysterious woman in a harlequin costume seemed to start following the Joker around, James Gordon would remember the girl in the electroshock chair, and curse himself for not finding out what the hell had happened to her.


End file.
